Great for the first half only!

Rating: Null/10 (29 March 2004)

Possible Spoilers!
This film was turning out to be one of the best post zombie films I had ever seen. There was nothing about it I didn't like until the end came upon us which I think got a bit silly and out of touch with the story. You don't really rate this film as part of the zombie genre amongst the Evil Dead and The Night of the Living Dead Trilogy, but it's the closet thing you can compare it to. This is the kind of struggle that could happen to us any day now, not in the same context but something similar. What I really took a shine to with 28 Days Later was it dealt with the loss of people you loved. When Jim leaves the hospital in a complete oblivious state to the new world that has fell upon him he meets with two strangers that help him escape two Zombie like characters from a petrol station and they fill him in on the recent happening. When they tell him what has happened , the scene where Jim thinks of the relatives and loved ones he might have lost is just heartbreaking as you have to find your own way of dealing with it. When he and Selena meets Brendan Gleeson and his daughter the plot thickens and they all try to come to terms with what has happened. Then they decide it's best to just try and get out of London and go to a place where they believe there is refuge and on the way they overcome many obstacles and see how much life has changed since it happened and it does it superbly when they are having a picnic and they a see a few horse running in a field. It is a beautiful scene where they just look at them and think of what they have lost. I think the movie does tend to shy away from the plot the moment they the soldiers at the barracks. For a while it's really good and when Jim is trying to get his two friends to safety it is still very good but you start to see a different to Jim without really explaining why he is like this. The scene where he has to kill the father he resists for a second, whether because it's in front of the man's daughter and just hesitates to make sure she doesn't see it but he just turns into this crazy guy without a care in the world. It reminded me of Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now when he goes to kill Colonel Kurtz and he comes out of the river with cam flash all over his face.
It's a very meaningful film with a lot of messages about loss and starting from the beginning with excellent cinematography and a great soundtrack to go with it. But I think it strays away from the plot towards the end and I know it shouldn't ruin it but for me it does.